Gravekeeper

Warnings: Lang, Inc

Author’s Note: Shane rants about some things that will offensive to Christians and religious freaks in general. If you don’t like it then why the hell would you continue reading it? Go read some nice hetero story instead.

Also, keep in mind that what he rants about is what he believes. It doesn’t mean it’s true or accurate. I really have no desire to engage in a debate about this, so keep it to yourselves, okay?

-=x=x=x=-

The next day I dragged myself wearily out of bed at 7 in the freaking morning. It was way too damn early and with everything that happened last night I had barely gotten any sleep at all. I was tempted to skip classes, I really was, but the bitching my parents would give me just wasn’t worth it.

Groggily I stepped into the bathroom and stripped down before getting into the shower. I probably still had dirt on me from the graveyard and who knows what else from the scuffle with the grave robbers. I didn’t want to think about last night but my mind just wasn’t going to let it go. It’s part of what had kept me up so late after I got home.

I could still hear the sound of gun shots ringing in my ears as well as the bullets ricocheting off of the mausoleums. Then there was the sickening crunch of bones snapping and the screams that followed. I shuddered even through the heat of the shower and leaned my shoulder against the wall.

I wondered if the cops were there right now or if that boy had disposed of the robbers and all evidence of their crimes. Even if he did I doubt he could get rid of the bullet holes in the mausoleums, something Keith would probably notice if ever got close enough. But by then evidence of the crimes would probably be washed away.

I dreaded the thought of it but I might just have to talk to the police. I wasn’t going to say anything if they had in fact disappeared, since it would only make me look crazy, but I wasn’t going to with hold information if they asked. I had seen enough daytime dramas like Law & Order to know that you didn’t fuck with the system without having a lot of money and a good alibi.

Of course anything about the boy I was going to keep out no matter what. They’d most definitely lock me up in the loony bin if I started raving about some naked zombie-boy who came out of no where and kicked two grave robber’s asses. And the wings? Don’t even get me started on that.

The deadened look in the boy’s eyes still made me shiver and I wondered just where the hell he came from. I’ve never seen him before, but with those wings that didn’t really surprise me. I’d keep hidden too if I looked like that.

Maybe he was some sort of demon or zombie, but those things didn’t really exist, right? I shook my head and tried to get a hold of myself. I know I hadn’t been dreaming when I saw him. He was just as real as I was and there was no way I could deny that now.

But what to do about it? I couldn’t tell anyone ‘cause they’d just think I was nuts and there wasn’t really anything I could do about his presence either. I wondered if he lived at the graveyard or something.

If he did then undoubtedly I’d be seeing him again. Well, maybe. I mean I have been there almost constantly since Derek died and last night was the first time I had ever seen him, let alone any of the mist that followed him around.

Maybe he had been there all along, hiding in that mist and out of sight from everyone else. And if so then why did he decide to show himself now? The boy had saved my life but he had no reason to. Just what were his motives?

I scoffed and started shampooing my hair. Now I was questioning the motives of a zombie-boy when I didn’t know a thing about him. Hell, I didn’t even know his species let alone what he could get out of saving me.

Derek, what would you do in my situation? I was met only with silence and the sound of the water pelting against the porcelain. I was on my own and once again I had no idea what I was going to do. Derek…

School passed by with the usual blimp sized annoyance it always did but I managed to make it through the day without getting yelled at too much. The teachers had taken it easy on me ever since Derek died but now they were starting to treat me like a regular student again.

I wish they wouldn’t. I know they thought they were doing me some sort of favor but I would rather just be allowed to wallow in my misery. The appeal of being alone was just so much greater than that of being part of the class. Nothing they could do would convince me otherwise.

At least now the counselors had finally stopped bothering me. You’d think that after months of refusing to speak to them they’d get the point and back off, but no, of course they hadn’t. At least once a week they called me down and tried to get me to talk about my feelings.

Really, what guy wanted to talk about their feelings? I may be a flaming fag but I was still a man, damnit! Besides, they’d only think something was wrong with me if I ever admitted what I had been feeling for Derek.

They’d try to tell me it was some sort of illness they needed to fix. Or maybe that I was misinterpreting my feelings because of the neglect our parents gave us or some shit like that. I knew what I felt for him and nothing they said was ever going to change that.

I loved Derek. I loved him even now and if that meant I was a sick bastard then I guess I was just a sick bastard then. Fucking religious nutters…

That was the real madman behind it all; religion or, to be more accurate, Christianity. In Christianity it was apparently a sin for a man to love another man. Not that I have ever read the bible but that’s always what you hear about on TV n’shit.

So, because of some damn book these ancient nut-jobs wrote thousands of years ago I was considered a freak for loving another man. Even worse was because that man was my brother, my twin. What a bunch of crap!

Did people even think before they started believing this shit? I mean, come on! Beloved St. Paul was a crazy old man who lived in a cave and heard voices! He was fucking schizoid and now people followed his words like they were law!

What happened to the Greek’s philosophy? He’ll what happened to the orgies where men preferred to sleep with men and it was considered normal, better even? I’ll tell you where, it was that fucking Plotinus or whatever the hell his name was.

Plotinus was an ancient Greek that refused to bathe and therefore had a body riddled with disease. Because he hated his body so much he wrote a philosophy about how the body was evil as was all bodily pleasures that went with it. Since he was already a well known figure his philosophy quickly spread and probably got instilled in the Christian religion, thus explaining the whole sins of the body thing. All because one Greek bastard refused to bathe!

And no one questioned this! That’s the part that annoys me the most. Everyone just follows their ancestors blindly without ever thinking for themselves. And then people have the gall to wonder why the world was just so fucked up as it was today.

Scowling I tried to put it out of my mind and kept on walking towards the graveyard. I wasn’t going to be kept from my brother no matter what happened. No grave robbers or creepy zombie-boys were going to scare me off!

But even as I thought this I was starting to get a nervous twitch to which I had to forcefully stop myself from showing. I was crazy enough as it was and didn’t need to start spazzing out as well. As soon as I drew closer I noticed that there was a police car parked at the main entrance. Shit.

Drawing in a breath I marched up the path and peered into squad car. No one was there so they must either be back near Mrs. Petersmith’s grave or at the mausoleums. I didn’t particularly want to see or speak to them but considering how close Derek’s grave was I probably wouldn’t have a choice.

Steeling myself I made my way back to plot 17. As I approached I saw Harold, the caretaker, as well as Charlie, Jasper, Jose, and Keith standing with the cops next to Mrs. Petersmith’s grave. It was a wonder that they hadn’t discovered this earlier, but then again who would have expected something like this to happen in the first place?

Keith saw me before long and beckoned me over, saying something to the cops that made them turn and look in my direction. Thanks for that, old man. I grumbled and hurried it up before the officers decided to come to me instead.

“Shane Carlial?” I nodded and stopped a few feet in front of them, standing next to Keith who looked as grumpy as ever, probably peeved that someone had dared desecrate a grave like this when he had been on duty. The other officer stepped foreword next to his partner.

“I’m Officer Salom and this is Officer Nickle.” Their names were some of the weirdest I had ever heard but I wasn’t about to tell them that. I didn’t think Officer Salom would take kindly to being told his name sounded like a Muslim greeting.

“Were you here last night between 10pm and 3am?” I shifted nervously, debating on what to tell them. It wouldn’t do me any good to lie or leave out information but I really didn’t want to have to deal with a whole criminal investigation.

“I was here.” I might as well get this over with. Maybe if I dealt with it now I would be able to spend some time with Derek before the sun went down.

The officers asked me all sorts of questions about what I had seen and what I was doing there and I answered them all to the best of my ability. Keith and the others vouched for me by saying I was almost always here and that it wasn’t unusual for me to fall asleep when it was warm enough.

The cops bought my story about how I had passed out once the guns started firing and when I came to the grave robbers were already out cold. I told them I had no idea who it was that had saved me and had high-tailed it home after seeing them all beat up. I hadn’t called the police because I was starting to wonder if it was all just a bad dream. I mean grave robbers and a mysterious super-hero like savior?

They wrote down everything in their little notebook and by the time I was done they were congratulating me on not dying and warning me about the dangers of sleeping in a graveyard. I nodded and followed along with what they were saying but had no intention of listening to them. Sleeping on Derek’s grave made me feel closer to him and nothing short of the police coming to take me home every night was going to get me to leave.

About an hour later they were finally ready to leave and I was itching to get to Derek’s grave and forget the whole thing had ever happened. Harold and others were walking the officers back to there car and I turned to go when Keith grabbed my arm.

“What gives, old man?” I scowled at him in irritation. He knew I wanted to go to Derek but he was stopping me anyway.

“Watch yourself. I don’t want another incident like tonight being repeated and I definitely don’t want to be the one to scrap your bony ass off the side of a mausoleum!” He knew as well as I did that the cops weren’t going to keep me from coming back or spending the night. I didn’t doubt that he’d be making more rounds from now on and would probably try to kick me out whenever he saw me.

“Fuck you, maybe it’ll be your bony ass instead! I’m sure Jasper would just love to scrape your maggoty remains off the graves!” We argued like this all the time so I wasn’t worried that he’d take offense to anything I said, just like I would ignore him.

“You ungrateful hooligan! Maybe next time I’ll just let ones do with you as they please!” I hoped the cops didn’t see/hear this or they might start to think something was actually wrong and come back. Hopefully the others were assuring them that we did this all the time.

“Just like last night, yeah?!” I yanked my arm away and stomped off towards Derek’s grave, ignoring Keith’s shouts from behind me. He wasn’t going to follow me though, but I knew he’d drop by to pester me later.

Our relationship was a weird one but he really was just looking out for me. I could tell he was concerned and didn’t want me sticking around after dark anymore. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep me away so he wasn’t out right saying it.

I had to admit I was a bit nervous about staying here at night. Not only would I be paranoid about every little sound but I would also be constantly on the look out for that boy. I don’t know what I’d do if he showed up out of no where again. Probably scream and freak out or something.

I had this terrible image of waking up to find him hovering over me, staring at me with those eyes. Shuddering I shoved the image away and sat down on my normal spot. I was surprised that the grass was still growing here considering how much time I spent sitting on it.

Leaning back against Derek’s tomb stone the usual sense of calm I felt with being here washed over me and I was finally able to relax.

Even while dead his presence was comforting to me.

I miss you, man. I wish you were still here with me, and then none of this shit would have happened. But you know I don’t blame you, right? I could never blame you for anything. I had stopped talking to Derek out loud when people started looking at me like I was crazy. Normally that wouldn’t be enough to stop me but ever once in a while someone would butt into our conversations.

Some people just had no sense of privacy.

Sighing I pulled out my homework again and got started on my assignments. There wasn’t much today but I wanted to get it over with so I wouldn’t have to think about it anymore. Getting myself comfortable I settled in and started telling Derek about my day, complaining about Biology class all the while.

The sun was starting to set by the time my muscles were becoming sore and I briefly debated about whether or not I wanted to go home yet. I didn’t particularly want to stay the night but I didn’t want to go home either. Going home meant that I would have to deal with my parents.

Derek and I had never been close to our parents and they were rarely at home as it was. Once Derek had died they tried to spend more time with me, to make up for what they had missed out on or something like that. I rejected them though. If they wanted to know me so badly then they should have made an effort when my brother was still alive.

I wasn’t going to let them use me as a replacement for him when he was the one they really wanted to apologize to. Really, how could they think that being nice to me would make up for how they had ignored Derek? I was angry at them for both of us and there was no way I was just going to forgive them.

Another problem was that I had told them I was gay. They hadn’t taken it well and had even tried to send me to a psychiatrist, saying that I was acting out in response to my brother’s death. Thank whatever god-like creature there was that I didn’t actually tell them I was in love with Derek. They would have locked me up for sure.

The chattering of two squirrels distracted me from my thoughts and I looked over to see them fighting their way up a tree. Maybe one of them stole the other’s nut or something. Crazy squirrels aside the rest of the graveyard was quiet.

I think I remember something about somebody being buried on the other side of the cemetery today but I could be wrong. It didn’t really matter though, I’m sure the workers had something to do around here. If not I believe Jasper and Jose had at least one other place they were working at.

Turning back around I noticed tiny tendrils of mist coiling around my legs. I hadn’t even noticed them coming in. What the…? With an acute feeling of trepidation I slowly looked up and came face to face with boy from last night.

“Holy shit!!” Backing away my arm caught on my brother’s tomb stone and before I knew it I was lying flat on my back with my head throbbing. Wincing I brought a hand up to the back of my head and glanced behind me. I had landed on the flat, stone, grave marker of person buried next to Derek. Fuck.

Looking back up I raised myself to my elbows and warily kept my eyes on the boy. Apparently he didn’t make a sound when he moved and that just added even more onto his creepiness factor. Once again he was crouched, like some sort of cat, and his eyes were glued to mine, watching my every move.

There was a slight pain in my forehead and I brought my hand up to touch it before wincing again and pulling away to see slight traces of blood on my fingers. I scowled and then froze as I saw the boy start moving towards me. He crawled over me with a cat like grace and by the time he stopped I was staring at him wide eyed with my breath caught in my throat.

He stared at me for a minute as if trying to judge how I would react before leaning closer and slowly licking the wound on my forehead. His tongue was cold and icy, the touch of it making me flinch and shiver. I didn’t know what to do.

He was creepy and I was a little more than freaked out but I couldn’t bring myself to move. I was frozen in place and although his tongue was as cold as ice he didn’t seem to be trying to hurt me. Shaking I brought my hand up and cautiously placed it on his side. His skin was cool, but not anywhere near as cold as his tongue and muscles rippled beneath my touch.

Then, suddenly, as quickly as he was on me he was off. Going back to his crouching position he watched me warily as though I was the one who had invaded his personal space. Obviously he wasn’t used to being touched.

Sitting up I brought my hand back to my forehead and found that the cut was gone. He had obviously healed it but how I had no idea. Before I could even think to ask there was the sound of whistling coming from a distance and the boy turned to face the direction it was coming from. The mist started curling in around him again and before my eyes he was starting to disappear.

Making a noise I reached out and grabbed his arm, startling him so bad that he jerked back and tried to escape. His eyes darted between me and the direction the whistling was coming from but he stopped trying to move none-the-less. It was almost as if he was afraid of hurting me.

“Wait—what are you?” I had meant to ask ‘who are you?’ but it came out as ‘what’ and now that it was said I couldn’t take it back. He stared at me for moment long, his eyes just as cold and dead as they were before, before leaning closer and hovering in front of me with hesitation. The whistling grew louder and this spurred him into action.

Pressing his lips against mine a shiver went through me and I felt the faintest brush of his mind entering my own. “Gravekeeper” it whispered and as soon as it was there it was gone and so was he.

Sitting there in shock I stared at the space the Gravekeeper had just occupied and brought my hand up to my lips. They were still tingling from his kiss. There were footsteps coming from the right of me and I turned to see a man and his little girl, coming to visit one of the graves. He gave me a weird look when he saw me sitting there and I murmured something to myself before grabbing my stuff and getting the hell out of there.

Derek, just what the hell have I gotten myself into?

-=x=x=x=-

brayzen: Thank you again for the wonderful review! I love my weird, pale, zombie-boy so be assured that I’ll be making regular updates along with my other stories (except Requiem for now).